The DLC works as a kind of prologue to LR more than anything else, it doesn't really expand much on the ending of XIII-2 since the ending that you see in the game itself doesn't really need much (if anything) to expand more for that story.

The DLC works as a kind of prologue to LR more than anything else, it doesn't really expand much on the ending of XIII-2 since the ending that you see in the game itself doesn't really need much (if anything) to expand more for that story.

Gameplaywise, yes (unless Dress Spheres really are their own thing in which case, its not even that). Storywise, its not even that so much as watching Lightning and Caius wailing on each other endlessly.

Gameplaywise, yes (unless Dress Spheres really are their own thing in which case, its not even that). Storywise, its not even that so much as watching Lightning and Caius wailing on each other endlessly.

Have the producers or any of the development staff been playing any other games recently that reflect some of the decisions made for this game?

Toriyama: "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim had a large impact in terms of the expansiveness and depth of the world in an open-world RPG. For the first time in [the Final Fantasy XIII series], we looked at the open-world environment and came up with the 'World Driven' concept to realistically depict the passage of a 24–hour day and the lives of the people who populate that world. The player will have to think about how they will spend their valuable time in the 13 days until the end of this world."

You've chosen to do away with much of the world of the two previous games, building something new. Can you explain this decision?

Toriyama: "The world in this installment originates from the ending of Final Fantasy XIII-2 when the realm of death, Valhalla, flowed into the land of Gran Pulse and began to head towards destruction. Visually, the world is completely different, but the settings still hold true to the crystal mythos (Fabula Nova Crystallis) that continues from Final Fantasy XIII. In other words, whether you are a fan of the Final Fantasy XIII world or you are coming into contact with this world for the first time, you will be able to enjoy this world."

What do you think has changed about the vision of Fabula Nova Crystallis since its announcement in 2006?

Kitase: "The video game industry is constantly changing drastically, and so the project details and schedule are always fluid.However, the plot that is the basis of this project has not changed at all. We still have the 'Fabula Nova Crystallis' script from 2004, and even with Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, the latest installment in 2013, we hold fast to the guidelines laid out within this script."